Karting Increase Expected for 2009

Kart clubs across the United Kingdom are expecting another increase in karting interest next year, in the wake of Lewis Hamilton’s World Championship victory last month.

Hamilton’s career has been well documented since he first approached Ron Dennis at an awards dinner in 1995, on the back of winning his first national karting championship. Now clubs across the country are riding a new wave of interest in the sport, which first started gathering pace when Hamilton emerged in Formula One.

Along with Hamilton, other British Formula One drivers such as Jenson Button, David Coulthard and Anthony Davidson all started their racing careers in karts at a young age.

In the first three months of this season, the Association of British Kart Clubs (ABkC) reported an 80% increase in testing time compared to the same period last year. Graham Smith, Chairman of the ABkC said “At the beginning of October there were 760 new kart licences taken out for 2008 compared with 635 for the whole of 2007.”

“60% were juniors compared with 45% the previous year. So the feeling is that the numbers of new licences this year will be 25% up when we get the figures for the year.”

And Smith fully recognised the centrality of Hamilton’s achievements as a factor for the increase: “The MSA Lets Go Karting scheme is helping and designed to capitalise on the Hamilton effect.”

However, while the figures would indicate a promising future for karting, Honda’s withdrawal from Formula One highlights the effect of the current economic problems on motorsport. Karting continues to be expensive even at the lowest level, and Smith is aware of the potential issues ahead:

“Next year is a bit of an unknown overall because of the recession though; hopefully it won’t affect the kids too much.”

(Images courtesy of Alistair Rickman and Pedro Arroyo)